Automatic relief-valve for pneumatic seed-cotton distributers.



No. 717,642. PATBNTED JAN. 6, 1903;

G. W. WADE. 7 AUTOMATIC RELIEF VALVE FOR PNEUMATIC SEED canon DISTRIBUTERS.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 6, 1902. B0 MODEL.

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No. 717,642. PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

4 G. W. WADE. I AUTOMATIC RELIEBVALVE F03 PNEUMATIC SEED COTTON- DISTRIBUTERS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6, 1902 N0 MODEL 2 SHEE'iS--$HEET 2.

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GEORGE W. WADE, OF OAKFOREST, TEXAS.

AUTDMATIC RELIEF-VALVE FOR PNEUMATIC SEED-COTTON DISTRIBUTERS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 717,642, dated January 6, 1903.

Application filed January 6. 1902. Serial No. 88,653. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE WJVADE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakforest, in the county of Gonzales and State of Texas, have invented anew and useful Automatic Relief-Valve for Pneumatic Seed-Cotton Distributors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved automatic relief-valve for pneumatic seed-cotton distributors, in which seed-cotton iscarried through a pneumatic flue by an exhaust-current of air maintained by an exhaust-fan, the object of my invention being to provide an improved valve, which is attached to the fine at a point between the automatic trip and the last section of the distributor, and means to permit the said valve to open upon an abnormal attenuation of the air in the flue when the screens in the distributor become clogged with cotton to relieve the consequent pressure upon the exhaust-fan by supplying the same with air; and my invention consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of a portion of the flue of a pneumatic seed-cotton distributor provided with my improved automatic reliefvalve. Fig. 2 is a detail elevation. spective view of a pneumatic seed-cotton distributer equipped with a mechanically-operated trip-valve and an exhaust-fan and showing my improvedantomatic relief-valve in the flue thereof in correct operative position with relation to the mechanically-operated trip-valve.

The flue 1 ofa pneumatic seed-cotton distributer is provided with an opening2 at a point between the automatic trip and the last section of the distributor. The said opening 2 is herein indicated as of oblong rectangular form; but the same may be of any other suitable form and should be of suitable size to admit air to relieve the pressure on the exhaust-fan b when the screens in the dristributer become clogged with cotton. In the said opening 2 is an automatic relief-valve 3, the lower side of which is hinged to one side of the flue at the bottom of the said opening, as at 4. On the outer side of the flue l is secured a plate 5, of suitable size and shape,

Fig. 3 is a perand the said plate has an opening 6, which is preferably of the same shape as the opening 2 in the flue 1, but is somewhat smaller than the said opening 2, the sides of the said opening 6 forming overhanging flanges 7 on the outer side of the opening 2, said flanges constituting the steps against which the valve 3 bears when the latter is in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and is wholly disposed in the opening 2, so as to close said opening. Said valve is adapted to open inwardly, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l, to admit air to the flue 1. In practice I provide the relief-valve 3 with air-channels 8 of slight capacity, which when the valve 3 is closed admit the small quantity of air to the interior of the flue l and tend to relieve the partial Vacuum created in the flue by the action of the exhaust-fan.

On the outer side of the plate 5 is a support 9,here shown as a laterally-extendin g bracket detachably connected to the said plate, in which bracket is mounted an ecoentricallydisposed sprocket wheel 10. A sprocketchain 11 is attached to the relief-valve 3, near the upper end thereof, and passes over and engages the outer side of the eccentric sprocketwheel 10, and to the said chain is suspended a weight 12. The said weight is so constructed that it may be loaded to any desired extent in order that the valve 3 may be set to open at any desired pressure. To this end the weight may be a hollow body adapted to be filled to any desired extent with heavy material, or it may be of any other suitable construction, such as willoccur to any person skilled in the art to which my invention relates, and I do not, therefore, desire to limit myself in this particular.

The pneumatic seed-cotton distributor and gin-feeder known as the Murray elevator and feeder is provided in the flue which leads to the exhaust-fan, at a point between the screens and the exhaust-fan, with a mechanically-operated trip-valve 0., (shown in Fig. 3,) which operates at regular intervals, in practice about once a minute, to admit air to the flue and cause the cotton to drop from the screens; but at times the cotton is fed so rapidly that it clogs the screens notwithstand ing the action of the mechanically-operated trip-valve and during the intervals at which ICO scription and an inspection of Fig. 1 of the drawings that the sprocket-wheel 10, owing to its eccentric disposition, constitutes a cam which by its partial rotation during the opening of thevalve 3 increases the leverage of the valve 3 and decreases progressively and correspondingly the resistance of the weight 12. When the relief-valve has been thus opened by the attenuation of the air in the pneumatic flue, it is held open by the pressure of the external air passing overit to the fan 1) until the trip-valve a opens to admit air to the exhaust-fan, whereupon the reliefvalve 3 is relieved of pressure and is automatically closed by the action of the weight, chain, and eccentrically-mounted sprocketwheel, as will be understood.

I do not desire to limit myself to the precise construction and combination of devices herein shown and described, as it is evident that modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. A pneumatic flue of the class described having an air-inlet opening, in combination with a valve to open and close said opening,

a weight, a flexible element connecting the weight to the valve, to normally maintain the valve in a closed position, and an eccentrically-mounted revoluble direction element engaged by said flexible connecting element, for the purpose set forth, substantially as described.

2. A pneumatic flue of the class described, having an air-inlet opening, in combination with a valve to open and close said opening, a weight connected to said valve to normally maintain the latter in a closed position and means to progressively decrease the leverage of said weight as said valve opens, substantially as described.

3. A pneumatic flue of the class described, having an air-inlet opening, and means to maintain an exhaust-current of air therethrough, in combination with a relief-valve to open and close said opening, said valve being adapted to be opened automatically upon the attenuation of air in said flue, means to normally maintain said valve in a closed position and to vary the resistance to the opening thereof, and a mechanicallyoperated trip-valve operative at regular predetermined intervals of time, to admit air to the flue at a point between the relief-valve and the air-exhaust means.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. WADE.

Witnesses:

C. C. WALSH, W. N. LAWLEY. 

